Etymologies

Middle English bistriden, from Old English bestrīdan : be-, be- + strīdan, to mount a horse; see stride.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

Now when Kanmakan heard these words, he cried out, saying, “O villain, this I bestride is the steed whereof ye speak and after which ye seek, and ye would do battle with me for his sake’ So come out against me, all of you at once, and do you dourest for the nonce!”

It's astonishing that our political leaders from both parties apparently believe that the United States can continue to bestride the world like an imperial colossus remaking entire societies in the image put forth by the Council of Foreign Relations or the American Enterprise Institute while at the same time becoming a pauper state that cannot even provide health care for its senior citizens.

Finally the One From Whom All Wisdom Springs cupped water, sky and loam in His hands, and wrought the most perfect of beasts, a creature of the purest substance, one which would bestride the world as a testament to the perfection of His creation, whose power would know no equal, whose visage would rival the angels, and whose consciousness could grapple with truth.

Though it does not yet quite talk the talk of "digital first" – looking forward, like the Journal Register group in the US or the Guardian here in Britain, to the days when dead trees are left to lie and paperless news organisations bestride the net – it is, nevertheless, envisaging a certain sort of future: one where everything changes, everything is up for grabs.

The history of private-sector market dominance is filled with such seemingly sudden disappearing acts: Big-box music retailers and bookstores were supposed to bestride the land like colossi at the turn of our new century, but Virgin megastores have all but disappeared, and Borders has just gone bankrupt.